There's no question headlines over the weekend going into March 3 were enough to get investors' minds racing. Fears of the Russians marching into another country conjured up images of the Cold War or worse. Skittish investors, already worried about the market's downturn in February, looked at the Ukraine as reason to sell.

But when it comes to investing, a vivid imagination isn't usually your best ally. Most international events don't escalate into full blown international episodes. In fact, very few do. There have been 14 major market rattling political events over the past 73 years, including Pearl Harbor, the OPEC oil embargo and the collapse of Lehman Brothers, says S&P Capital IQ. As you'd expect, the initial reaction is usually negative. Stocks suffered a median 2.4% first day loss after these events.

But the fear quickly subsides, in most cases. The median investment shock lasted just eight days and losses hit their worst point at a 7.4% decline. The market completely undid its losses from these shocks, on a median basis, in 14 days, S&P Capital IQ found. Some of these shocks are even less serious. The Cuban Missile Crisis resulted in a 2.7% one-day loss, but the decline was erased five trading days later.

There are times when losses can be worse. The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in late 2008 caused a 4.7% first-day drop, but the losses wound up being a crushing 46%.

With so much money at stake, it's understandable investors are nervous about international events. Ukraine is even less important since emerging markets stocks shouldn't be much more than 9% of even a risk-tolerant investors' portfolio. Fortunately, most of these events wind up being short-lived and not something to steer your portfolio by.